You can run multiple instances of glpsol or a custom program that calls GLPK as 
things are now.  The operating system guarantees that they don't interfere with 
each other.  There is no benefit to using threads to solve multiple problems 
unless they are very closely related.  In that case there are better options 
already.

There are compelling reasons for using threads to improve performance of single 
problem solutions.  In the case of simplex, this is pretty much limited to 
matrix arithmetic.  For MIP problems there is evidence that task level 
parallelism (e.g branch and bound) can be successfully implemented to produce a 
useful performance boost.

Parallel programming is difficult.  Concurrent shared memory programming is 
harder.  People get tenure for solving major problems.  As a practical matter I 
try to avoid attempting to solve problems for which you can be granted tenure.  
I typically need to get something done by a deadline.

I watched everyone struggle to get symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) to work 
reliably.  You've not endured pain until your multimillion dollar computer 
kernel panics on a daily basis for months on end.

Have Fun!
Reg

--- On Thu, 12/27/12, Patrik Dufresne <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Patrik Dufresne <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Help-glpk] Optimization and Multicore GLPK
To: "Robbie Morrison" <[email protected]>
Cc: "GLPK help" <[email protected]>
Date: Thursday, December 27, 2012, 5:43 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong: With GLPK you may solve multiple problems at the same 
time using one thread for each problems. So, I don't understand why it's 
important to make GLPK thread safe. As long as you are manipulating the problem 
object with the same thread, you are OK. In case you need to manipulate the 
same problem object with multiple threads, I think it's up to the application 
code to properly handle the thread to synchronize the operation done to the 
problem object.

-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

_______________________________________________
Help-glpk mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-glpk
_______________________________________________
Help-glpk mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-glpk

Reply via email to